


Childhood Friends

by plisetskees



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Gen, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 16:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2658908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plisetskees/pseuds/plisetskees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt meets a new friend at a playground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Childhood Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I dont mean to keep writing ghosty prucan it isnt my fault I swear

Matt was a lonely kid. He had been even lonelier ever since Alfred started baseball practice, and Daddy had started working more. His only friend had moved across the planet before school ended for the summer, and Matt only had his stuffed polar bear Daddy got for him in Japan one year for Christmas to keep him company. 

Since he was always alone, Matt got good at sneaking out of his house and to the old park that was close by. He liked to take his polar bear to the park and pretend it was a friend, and pushed it on the rusty swings, or played with it in the sandbox. 

3 weeks into the summer, Matt had brought his bear to the park and had sat down in the sandbox with the toy. He had started building a sand castle when he heard someone walking through the park. 

Matt decided to put down his pail and look up. He saw that the person walking through the park was a very pale looking boy around his age, carrying his own stuffed animal. It looked like an eagle. In a bout of shyness, Matt put his head back down and flusterdly started working on his sand castle again. He hoped that the boy wouldn't see him, or would just ignore him, and walk through the park. 

"I'm Gilbert, what's your name?" The boy called, standing in front of Matt. It didn't seem like Matt would be lucky enough to be alone. 

Matt grabbed his bear and played with it's fur nervously. He didn't know if he should tell the stranger in front of him or not.

"Did you hear me? I'm Gilbert! What's your name?" The boy asked again. And Matt realized that he couldn't just ignore him, and that he wanted to go away.

"Matt," Matt mumbled, still looking down.

"Well, hi Matt! Do you care if I play in the sandbox with you?" Gilbert asked, and Matt shook his head, but he still didn't look up.

"Thanks! I don't have many friends, so it's nice to play with people! Even our animals can be friends!" Gilbert exclaimed, and put his stuffed animal down next to Matt's bear. It looked a lot older in comparison to Matt's; Gilbert must have had it for a long time.

Matt nodded, and started to build up his sand castle more. 

"You don't talk a lot, do you?" Gilbert asked, and Matt shook his head. "That's okay. You'll warm up to me." Matt could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

For the next few weeks, Matt went to the park. And every day, without fail, Gilbert would be waiting on him. Once Matt started to actually talk, he and Gilbert became fast friends. It made Matt happy; he only had Alfred and Jan, and he never got to talk to either of them. Getting to talk to Gilbert every day was the best thing in the world to young Matt.

A few days before summer ended, Matt was sure he and Gilbert were going to be best friends forever.

"Are you gonna go to Maplewood Elementary?" Matt asked, hoping that his new best friend would be going to school with him, and that maybe he'd even be in his class.

"No. I don't have to go to school." Gilbert said proudly. When Matt asked why, Gilbert shrugged. He explained that he just didn't go to school, and Matt thought that was the coolest thing.

"You should come to my house for dinner. You would love my twin brother, he acts a lot like you!" Matt exclaimed. He didn't know what he wanted more; to spend more time with his best friend, or to show his father and brother that he was capable of making friends.

"I can't, I'm not allowed. I can't go any further than this playground." Gilbert answered. Matt thought that was weird, and insisted Gilbert ask his mom if she would just let him visit for one night. But Gilbert was persistent that he wasn't allowed, so they just played together, and Matt soon forgot about it.

When school started, Matt was sad about not being able to play with Gilbert every day. He still went to the playground on weekends, though, and enjoyed spending time with Gilbert then. Gilbert always seemed sad when Matt left, and Matt knew it was because he was Gilbert's only friend besides the raggedy stuffed animal that Gilbert called Gilbird. 

One Saturday morning, Matt woke up and ran to the playground, like he did every weekend. Except, something was different. There was yellow tape around the playground, with words on it, but Matt didn't know what it said. There were police officers around, and Matt's first thought was, "Where's Gilbert?"

Matt went up to one of the police officers and tapped on their leg, ignoring his shyness for a moment in an attempt to find Gilbert. "Excuse me, sir? Have you seen a boy around here? He's my height, and has blonde hair, and he's really pale, and he always carries a dirty yellow stuffed bird!" It probably wasn't good to interrupt the police man, who was probably doing something important, but Matt wanted to find Gilbert. 

The police man looked strangely at Matt for a second. "Er... no. You need to go home, son. A crime has been committed here." 

Matt looked past the police man and into the park. Past the yellow tape, the sand box had been dug up, and another police man was looking into the deep hole that was left in it's place.

"What happened? Why'd you take out the sandbox?" Matt asked.

"Look... Sometimes bad people do bad things. Sometimes people try to hide those bad things by burying them. But, it's our job to find those things." The police man explained. Matt looked at the policeman, not understanding.

"What did they bury?" Matt asked.

"They... they buried a person." The policeman looked weary. Matt still didn't understand, but before Matt could ask anymore questions, the policeman ushered him on home.

That night, when Daddy watched the news, Matt heard that the body of a little boy who had been missing had been found in the old park that was close to Matt's house. He had been buried under the sandbox. Matt thought it was gross that there was a body under where he and Gilbert played every day! Everything would be okay though, because they took the body out from under the sandbox and gave him a funeral. 

Matt continued going to the playground on weekends, but Gilbert never showed up again. At first, Matt thought it was because of the body they had found. But then, long after Matt had forgotten about the body, Gilbert never came back. It made Matt sad, but over time Matt outgrew his shyness and made new friends. He had almost completely forgotten about the little boy he used to play with, until his sophomore year of college. 

Matt was looking through a newspaper from his hometown, dated 2000. He was looking for something mundane for an English class. He didn't expect to see the face of his childhood friend on the second page of the paper. He definitely didn't expect to read the headline "YOUNG CHILD'S BODY FOUND UNDER PLAYGROUND, FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED," underneath the photo. And he definitely didn't expect to faint in the middle of the library when it what had happened that summer when he was 6 years old finally clicked in Matt's mind.

 


End file.
